100 Sudanese killed by suspected Rift Valley Fever – official

November 20, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Nearly 100 people have died of suspected Rift Valley Fever with over 360 more infected, Sudan said on Tuesday, after initially being slow to confirm an outbreak of the deadly disease.

The health ministry said 94 people had died and 362 been infected in the suspected outbreak concentrated in White Nile, Sinnar and Al-Jazira states, south of Khartoum.

Ministry epidemiologist Issam Mohammed Abdallah released the figures in a meeting with health officials, the official SUNA news agency reported.

Abdallah said the disease could be transmitted by eating uncooked meat, drinking unpasteurised milk or close proximity to infected animals.

Fear of contracting the disease has caused a significant decline in meat consumption, the Khartoum press reported.

On November 9, the World Health Organisation said more than 80 people had died of suspected Rift Valley Fever and that more than 25 of almost 230 suspected cases in Sudan had been confirmed by laboratory analysis.

There are no vaccines for humans who contract Rift Valley Fever, usually via mosquitos.

Victims usually experience fever, general weakness, back pain, dizziness, vomiting of blood and extreme weight loss at the onset of the illness.

Many patients recover within a week but others can die, including those with weakened immune systems, experts say.

The fever was first isolated in Kenya’s Rift Valley region in 1930s but has since been recorded elsewhere on the continent and overseas.

(AFP)